


''A Man Can Cry Too''

by Omorocca



Category: Glee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-01
Updated: 2013-02-01
Packaged: 2017-11-27 17:57:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/664831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omorocca/pseuds/Omorocca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My first and probably only Glee fanfiction. Though there are some characters I like to death (like the two featured here), I'm not a fan of the show.</p>
<p>You need to have seen a very heartbreaking episode called 'On My Way' to understand what's going on in this one-shot.</p>
<p>Glee fans: remember I'm not a Glee fan, so I don't do shipping wars with you. This is my opinion based on what I saw (the first three seasons)</p>
<p>Not rated, one single bad word in the whole text and no porn. I hope you enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	''A Man Can Cry Too''

‘Glee’ fanfiction

By Virginie Brouillette

Glee characters belong to their writers who mistreat them a lot and   
to their actors who do their best to salvage the show from its writing.

 

 

The door of the hospital room opened so the nurse could come and make her routine tests. The young man was now used to it after so many days spent being checked, tested and analysed like a lab rat. He wasn’t even sick, only… recovering. Getting tired of all this, he only wanted to go home, to rest, to forget and to be forgotten.

 

“Good morning, Mr Karofsky. How are we doing today?”

 

How are _we_ doing? Seriously? Well, I don’t know how you’re supposed to be doing, lady, but I’m not really better than last time you came in to check on me, _which was three frigging hours ago!_

 

“Not bad… I ate a little bit of solid food without choking. That’s good, right?”

“Very. Not only are you regaining strength but eating means you want to get better.”

 

He tried to smile to show he agreed with her. But it wasn’t the will to live that made him eat. It was false hope. And foolishness.

 

 

Once she was done with her tests and left, he finally let go of his teenage jock bravado and sighed in pain, tears coming out of his eyes. No matter the words of encouragement, he still didn’t feel there was a chance for him to be fully happy. He wasn’t like Kurt or his boyfriend… or that other dude who tried to steal his boyfriend and insulted Dave the only time he talked to him. All he wanted was a tip, a clue on how to interact with other homosexual men by a guy who seemed confident and good-looking enough to have some experience. But he was veering off-topic. The point was: all three of these guys were not only out of the closet, but they were the ‘Gay Pride Parade’ kind of gays. The kind everyone suspects to be gay and isn’t surprised to see they were right. Dave envied them, for he was the worst kind of homosexual guy, the sports jock kind and, though being gay wasn’t a sin in the outside world, it was in the gym.

 

Being a jock _and_ gay was like fighting a prejudice inside of another one. Sure, guys like him – Bears – existed in the gay community, but in this little town with such narrow-minded people, Dave looked like a fake. A fake jock for being gay and a fake gay for being a jock.

 

He let out another sob, which he immediately shrugged away and pretended to look at the television. The door had reopened and there was no way he would allow someone else to see him cry. Not after Kurt’s visit, that is.

 

He turned around to look at the visitor, anticipating his father who was to come back in the evening. But it wasn’t his father. It was somebody else’s father.

 

“Mr Hummel?”

“Hey, Dave!”

 

_What the hell is he doing here?_

 

“What the… uh, what are you doing here?”

“Kurt told me about what happened.”

 

_Why did he do that? Isn’t there enough damage to my life already?_

 

“He worries about you, Dave. He feels responsible because he was with you when this other guy saw you. That’s how he thought you were gay. He didn’t check to see if it was true or not – you were with an openly gay guy, it was good enough for him – and he exposed you to the whole school. Kurt really feels bad for this.”

“Why? I got what I deserved, right? I bullied him for being gay, now karma has hit me in the face. He should be happy.”

 

_He should be. It would make it easier for all of us._

 

“Don’t be like that, son. No one deserves to be bullied into killing themselves. Especially not you, after all the trouble you went through to better yourself, to protect Kurt from other bullies and even put up with Kurt’s more difficult side. I know he can be a drama king sometimes. You have become so much more than what you were before, and you will grow to top that.”

“H-how do you know about all that?”

“Kurt told me, of course.”

 

_He what? Kurt told his father about every single embarrassing thing I did? Even when I walked out at the ball because I had to dance with him? Or when I met him at the Scandal bar? Or the fucking gorilla suit on Valentine’s Day? Okay, Kurt loved it to death, but he also thought it came from his boyfriend, not from me._

 

“He’s very proud of you, you know!”

 

_…_

_Say that again?_

 

“He… he is?”

“Of course! You’ve come from so far and did so much. You even went to tell Kurt how you felt about him. That takes a lot of courage.”

 

_The son of a… He told him!_

 

“You know, his own boyfriend didn’t even give him one single Valentine, that day. Kurt is just like his mother when he falls in love. He needs flowers, glitter and all these things. Your cards, balloons and that silly suit made him smile, made him feel loved.”

“It did? Even after he knew it was from me?”

“You made my boy happy, Dave. And even if he has a boyfriend, to know you are loveable to someone else always feels good.”

 

_I made him happy._

 

“I’m really proud of you!”

“Why? I’m the same guy as the douchebag who bullied your son.”

“Did you even listen to everything I just said? You’re not that kid anymore. You changed. You’re a man now, a good man and I’m proud of you, just like I know your own father is.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that…”

 

Burt Hummel stopped talking and sat back to listen to what Dave had to say. Why would he think his dad wasn’t proud of him, especially now when he knows how much Dave matters to his life?

 

“I let him down. He fought to get me back in school, after I got suspended. He made me work harder to make sure my grades wouldn’t slip and make me focus on school instead of Kurt. He had me go to a therapist; he said it was easier to speak to someone you don’t give a damn about than someone you’re afraid to hurt; he put up with my weird behaviour, always supporting me, no matter what I did. And what did I do? I didn’t even tell him that I… that I was…”

“It’s all right, Dave.”

“I snuck out to go to this bar, like I was ashamed or something. I thought I could talk with other guys like me and build up the courage to talk to my dad about it. But even there, I couldn’t fit in. I might be gay, but I’m not ‘gay’ gay.”

“Hey, they can’t expect all gay guys to wear sequins and love Barbra Streisand. Not all straight guys love cars and wrestling.”

“Yeah, that’s my problem. Small town mentality; everything must be a stereotype. Even in a community of people who get hurt by prejudice, people bitch each other based on their own prejudice. I wasn’t gay enough for the others to want to help me. I don’t know how I managed to actually learn something there. But I wasn’t ready to talk to my dad. And then… then that happened.”

 

He couldn’t hold it any longer and burst in tears in front of Burt. He tried to hide it by looking away, tried to preserve from the shame, but Burt got up and put his arms around Dave’s shoulders and hugged him. The young man struggled but Burt knew it wouldn’t last long.

 

“What the…?”

“Just let it out. Don’t worry. It’ll make you feel better.”

 

Dave didn’t argue. He didn’t have the strength to, anyways. He stayed there, crying, his head rested on the shoulder of Kurt’s father. Kurt’s father, who treated him like his own son, no matter what he had done in the past. Kurt’s father, who believed in him and was proud of him.

 

Once some of the sobs had been let out, Dave felt he could control himself and took a few long breaths to calm down. Burt knew it was over and let him go.

 

“I’m sorry about that. I guess I was too tired to hold myself.”

“Don’t apologise to me for crying. Actually, don’t ever apologise to anyone for crying. Ever! Do you understand, Dave?”

“Yeah… it’s just embarrassing to cry in front of someone you don’t really know. I’m not used to do that.”

“You went through a lot. It’s perfectly understandable. And you come from this ‘small town full of clichés’ you talked about, where real men don’t cry. But here’s a secret… Crying isn’t only for girls or fabulously gay guys.”

“I know that.”

“A man can cry too, and he’s not less of a man for doing it. In fact, it makes him even more of a man, because it takes a lot of courage to show your vulnerabilities to others.”

 

Dave didn’t answer. This man really was something else. Spending a few hours of his time to comfort a guy he barely knew. Was he trying to become a saint or what?

 

“Why are you here, Mr Hummel?... I mean, why are you _really_ here?”

“I don’t know. It just felt right to do this, I guess. I know what it is to have a son who lives this kind of pressure. Kurt and I made it through, but not everyone does and I thought you and your dad could use the help.”

“Did Kurt ever… did he ever think of doing what I did?”

 

Try. That was the word he wanted to use, not ‘think’… But the fear of Kurt trying such a thing was way too scary to even say it out loud.

 

“I have no idea, honestly. If he did, he never told me. But, I guess the fear is always there when your kid is considered ‘different’ and bullied for it. This could have happened to us and maybe I’m so glad it didn’t that I need to help someone else’s kid. I don’t know. I’m not good on putting words on my feelings, I just do what I think is right and hope not to fail.”

“That seems like a good way to live.”

“You should try it. Screw what people think and follow your gut.”

“Yeah… maybe.”

“You have good instincts. You feel love for the sweetest boy in the world. Who am I to judge that?”

“He doesn’t love me back.”

“He does. As a friend, he does. Maybe one day, things will change, maybe it won’t. But you still have each other to count on. Maybe he’ll help you find the man of your life, maybe he’ll be that man, but as long as you two care about each other, you won’t be alone against the world. Your dad and I won’t be here forever and I can’t speak for him but I’m glad I can count on you to take care of my boy whatever happens.”

“Of course, I will. He came to cheer me up when none of my friends did. I’ll never forget that.”

“Neither will he.”

 

The door opened to reveal Dave’s father coming in the room.

 

“Hey, buddy—Oh, Mr Hummel, I didn’t know you were here.”

“It’s okay, Burt answered. I was passing by and wanted to see how Dave was doing.”

“Well, that’s very generous of you. Thank you very much.”

“It was the normal thing to do. Well, Dave, I’ll leave you with your dad now. Give me a call when you get out.”

“Will do”, Dave promised.

 

They shook hands and Burt exchanged the same polite gesture with Mr Karofsky.

 

“Thank you very much, My Hummel. I really appreciate it.”

“I did it for me as much as for Dave. Let just say, I know what you’re going through.”

 

The poor man watched him leave with a sad smile and then went to his son to hold him deeply in his arms.

 

 

Burt Hummel slowly left the hospital, feeling more relieved that Dave was better. It could have been his own son in this bed and he was grateful it wasn’t the case. Grateful but a bit ashamed to be so glad his own son’s pain had never gone that far.

 

_I guess all parents are selfish when it comes to this._

 

He was relieved but also happy. Dave was getting better and he and his son would be friends. Burt knew how much both teenagers needed it. And, after all that was going on lately between Kurt and his boyfriend, Burt caught himself thinking… no, _hoping_ that his son and Dave would become more than friends.

 

_Maybe one day…_


End file.
